Dynamic range control (DRC) in the context of this document refers to a digital signal processing technique to reduce the dynamic range of audio signals in a controlled way [1]. The desired reduction of the dynamic range is achieved by reducing the level of loud sound components and/or amplifying soft parts of the audio signals.
A typical application for DRC is to adapt the dynamic properties of an audio signal to a listening environment. For example, when listening to music in noisy environment, the dynamic range should be reduced in order to allow for an overall signal amplification without driving the resulting amplified signal into clipping. In this case, high signal peaks should be attenuated, e.g. by means of a limiter. Additionally, soft signal components should be amplified relative to the loud parts in order to improve their intelligibility in a noisy listening environment.